--- description: Find out why NextEra Energy was selected for TIME‘s list of the most influential companies of 2026. title: TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2026: NextEra Energy image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde3b49e70c250eca/69dfb3f53cce02aa41e38e20/time100-companies-2026-nextera-energy.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 30, 2026 # NextEra Energy Electric-utility heavyweight by [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/) ## Justin Worland Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent  Blythe and McCoy Solar Energy Centers, Blythe, California. Blythe and McCoy Solar Energy Centers, Blythe, California.Courtesy NextEra Energy For the first time in decades, demand for electricity in the U.S. is rising, leaving companies scrambling to stand up new power infrastructure as quickly as possible, often at the expense of sustainability goals. As the world’s largest electric utility by market cap, NextEra sits at the center of this dramatically shifting sector. In recent years, the company has invested enough in wind and solar power to make it the world’s biggest producer of renewable energy. And even as the Trump Administration pushes companies away from renewables, NextEra insists it will build a lot more solar power, which it says is simply among the easier technologies to build amid the ongoing power crunch. The move isn’t ideological: Despite earning [plaudits](https://www.investor.nexteraenergy.com/news-and-events/news-releases/2022/06-14-2022-130240303 "undefined") just a few years prior for its ambitious emissions reduction plans, the company is now racing to build [10 gigawatts of natural gas facilities](https://newsroom.nexteraenergy.com/2026-03-20-NextEra-Energy-receives-approval-from-President-Donald-J-Trump-to-develop-up-to-10-GW-of-natural-gas-powered-generation-to-meet-nations-historic-power-demand?l=12 "undefined"). That roughly equals the power capacity of the state of Connecticut. And it’s an indicator of just how much the industry has changed in very little time. As data centers transform the U.S. power sector, NextEra is also exploring new business models, including a [partnership](https://www.investor.nexteraenergy.com/news-and-events/news-releases/2025/12-08-2025-120206963 "undefined") with Google to build new power plants alongside new data centers. “It’s about getting every electron on the grid that we possibly can,” John Ketchum, the company’s CEO, said in March at the CERAWeek energy conference. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-most-influential-companies/2026/nextera-energy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-most-influential-companies/2026/nextera-energy/"},"headline":"NextEra Energy","datePublished":"2026-04-30T13:36:08.398Z","dateModified":"2026-05-12T07:03:06.329Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collection/time100-most-influential-companies/2026/nextera-energy/","keywords":["TIME100 Companies","franchise","list"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde3b49e70c250eca/69dfb3f53cce02aa41e38e20/time100-companies-2026-nextera-energy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"creator":"Justin Worland","articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde3b49e70c250eca/69dfb3f53cce02aa41e38e20/time100-companies-2026-nextera-energy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-most-influential-companies/2026/nextera-energy/","name":"NextEra Energy"}}]}] ```